At the midway point of the Warriors' season, they're 14-19 - in 13th place and four games out of the Western Conference's eighth and final playoff spot.

They find themselves in the NBA quagmire of not being good enough to compete for a title and not being bad enough to keep their lottery selection, which will go to Utah if it's not among the top seven picks.

Big decisions are coming as the March 15 trade deadline approaches, and general manager Larry Riley and assistant GM Bob Myers are bringing ideas to owner Joe Lacob daily about how to proceed.

"We're being aggressive, pursuing a big man and listening to offers about anybody else who might help our team," Riley said. "We're going to have to give up something to get something, and sometimes the asking price is too high.

"We're close in that we need one or two more pieces to put us in a better position to compete, but if you subtract a piece to add a piece, I'm not sure we get any closer. I don't like creating one problem to solve another one."

Acquiring a big man remains paramount to the Warriors, and they've convinced themselves - though few others around the league - that they're still in the mix for Orlando centerDwight Howard. If they cannot get a big man at the deadline, Riley said, he would be OK with going into the offseason with his core under contract and more than $10 million to spend.

This will be an interesting deadline as teams wait to see what happens with the Howard sweepstakes before other dominoes begin to fall. It could be similar to last season, when the Carmelo Anthony deal set off a number of moves, but it also could be unique in how heightened luxury taxes under the new collective bargaining agreement affect trades of long-term contracts.

"I don't see an avalanche of trades," one Western Conference GM said. "I would be really surprised at that."

Riley said it's unfair to think the Warriors would do only a big deal. They're in discussions about trades that would make them incrementally better this season and acquisitions that could be used this summer in dealing for a big man.

Of course, the Warriors aren't dealing with a full deck. Some teams have cooled on the team's top trade asset, Stephen Curry, because of his ankle and foot problems. There isn't much trade value for David Lee or Andris Biedrins because of their contracts. That leaves most of the conversations focusing on Monta Ellis, Klay Thompson and Ekpe Udoh.

"We do have some assets, but we haven't seen offers that get a fair return," Riley said. "We would consider anything that makes us better, but the likelihood is that we wouldn't have a massive change."